Pure Youth Construction continued their winning streak with a 82-78 win over the Dacin Tigers at the Taipei County Sports Complex on Sunday to cap off the weekend with a 2-0 record.
It was not only the builders' third straight win, but also their fifth in six matches, as they swapped places with the Taiwan Mobile Leopards, losers of five in a row, to take fifth-place spot in the latest standings.
Leading the Pure Youth attack with another terrific effort was sophomore center Jien Jia-hong, who followed his 35-point scoring spree on Saturday with a game-high 33 along with five rebounds and a pair of steals.
The builders will need all the rest they can get this week to prepare for the three-game schedule this coming weekend before the Lunar New Year break.
The contest began with Pure Youth punching the ball down below with Jien against a smaller Dacin interior defense to give them a 24-21 lead after the first quarter.
Dacin woke up and connected from the perimeter to close out the first half leading 44-42 before upping their lead to five points midway through the third quarter.
It took a 5-0 run on Pure Youth's part to force a 64-64 tie by the end of the third, but the Tigers held the lead for most of the fourth until Jien's free throws turned the game around with under a minute to play.
The loss by the Tigers denied them a 3-0 weekend after they scored two big wins over the Bank of Taiwan and the Leopards.
Taiwan Beer 84, Dinos 77
Injuries to starters finally took their toll on the Yulon Dinos as they succumbed to Taiwan Beer in a 77-84 final to end the weekend with a 1-1 record.
Unlike the game versus the dmedia Numen the night before where the Dinos managed to pull off a miraculous win with three of their starters on the bench, Sunday's showdown against the defending champs was an uphill battle from the get go.
Even though the Dinos showed flashes of brilliance at times, with top forward Chen "Airman" Hsin-an beating his man on a couple of tremendous plays, the game was never out of Taiwan Beer's control. Wu Dai-hao and Yang Jing-min dominated inside the paint while sharp shooter Ho Sho-cheng knocked down four three's.
Taiwan Beer forward Lin "the Beast" Chih-jeh could only manage two points from a pair of free throws on a 0-for-8 shooting night. But Yang was able to make for the difference by scoring a game-high 20 in a solid showing.
Numen 96, Bank of Taiwan 72
Behind 42 career-high points from Ouyang Jin-hen, the dmedia Numen rolled over the Bank of Taiwan in a 96-72 win earlier on to keep pace with Taiwan Beer for a share of the No. 2 spot in the standings.
Dmedia took a 27-15 lead after the opening quarter on 13 points by Ouyang and never looked back.
Jonathan Sanders also had a field day with 20 points and 21 rebounds in his third 20-20 performance of the season.
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